THOMAS THOMPSON ECKERT, President of the Western Union
Telegraph Company, New York, was born April 23, 1825, in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
He learned the telegraph art in 1848, and the following year, having been
appointed postmaster at Wooster, O., opened the first postal telegraph service
by receiving the Wade wire into his office, and uniting the duties of
postmaster and operator. J. F. Wallick was his assistant. J. H. Wade, now
deceased, was at that time building telegraph lines westward, with Dennis Doren
as his chief of construction. He saw in young Eckert's aggressive vigor and
industry a man he needed. Without much hesitation he offered to him the
superintendency of the Union Telegraph lines then being extended from
Pittsburgh, Pa., by way of the Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad to Chicago. The
Union Telegraph lines were operated in connection with the Wade, Speed and
Cornell lines, then somewhat extensively throughout the Northwest. They were of
the gossamer order, and all needed whatever support an earnest man could give
them.
Mr. Wade having identified himself with the Western Union
Telegraph Company soon after its formation, his lines one by one were absorbed
thereby. Superintendent Eckert thus came into the service of the company over
which in later years he was to become the managing head. In his new relations
he became soon known for his energy, good judgment, and capacity for labor. Yet
in 1859, he resigned, and went to superintend the affairs of a gold mining
company in Montgomery County, N. C. Here he remained until the breaking out of
the war, in 1861, when he returned north, and resided in Cincinnati, O.
He was not long permitted to be idle. A few months after his
return to Ohio, Colonel Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, called him
to Washington, where he was placed in charge of the military telegraphs at the
headquarters of General McClellan. In 1862 he accompanied General McClellan to
the Peninsula as superintendent of the Military Telegraph Department of the
Potomac, with the rank of Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. In September of
the same year he was called to Washington to establish the military telegraph
headquarters in the War Department buildings, and was promoted to be Major and
Assistant Quartermaster.
In this service Major Eckert was thoroughly at home. His
duties placed him in the most intimate relations with President Lincoln and
Secretary of War Stanton, by both of whom he was highly trusted and esteemed.
An evidence of this confidence was shown by his appointment, at a very delicate
stage of the war, to meet the leaders of the Southern Confederacy at City
Point, in January,1865, a mission which he performed with discretion,
intelligence and fidelity. It was not the only service thus discreetly and
successfully rendered during the long night of the nation's peril.
It is one of the unwritten facts connected with that period
that General Eckert, on his way back from City Point, after his interview with
the Confederate chiefs, was met by gentlemen from New York, who offered him,
but in vain, a large sum of money to give them the result of his mission.
On the afternoon when the message came from the army in
Virginia, “We are in danger, send Sheridan,” Stanton and Sheridan were in the
War Department, in anxious council. Instantly Major Eckert took possession of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, ordered it cleared, and a special engine made
ready to carry Sheridan to Harper's Ferry. This was soon done, and all through
the night every operator remained at his post, guarding the road until the iron
horse had sped beyond. At the break of day the car entered the depot at Winchester,
and there pawing the ground, and ready for the great ride to the field, stood
the gallant horse which was to make “Sheridan's Ride” famous in all coming
history.
In 1864, Major Eckert was breveted Lieutenant-Colonel, and
soon after Brigadier-General. The same year also he was appointed Assistant
Secretary of War, which position he held until August, 1866, when he resigned
to accept the office of General Superintendent of the Eastern Division of the
lines of the Western Union Telegraph Company. This included the entire
territory between Washington and Cape Breton, including all the New England
states, the state of New York and eastern Pennsylvania. His position assumed
unusual importance and responsibility on account of the opening up of the
transatlantic correspondence, which followed the successful laying of the
Atlantic Cable. He carried into this work much of the discipline, vim, and
thoroughness which characterized him in the War Department as assistant to his
great chief and friend, Edwin M. Stanton.
On January 14, 1875, General Eckert, who had but recently
resigned the general superintendency of the Western Union Telegraph Company,
was elected president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. His
management of the interests then intrusted to his care was entirely successful.
On January 1, 1880, General Eckert became President of the American Union
Telegraph Company, and he retained this position until the consolidation of
that company with the Western Union Telegraph Company.
Mr. Jay Gould's chivalric friendship for General Eckert,
which appears in connection with the latter company, is curious and
interesting. It secured for him a post of honor and of responsibility as
General Manager of the vastest industry of the world. No one believes that Mr.
Gould erred in his choice. General Eckert was a force he needed, and whom
therefore he selected and held. As a man General Eckert has personal qualities
which endear him to his friends. His physique is powerful, well formed, and
indicative of self reliance and capacity of resistance. His feelings are
strong, alert, sensitive. As an officer he is punctilious, insists on
recognition, on prompt obedience and respect. He has, however, beneath all his
official vigor a wealth of consideration and kindness which renders him gentle
and approachable, and secures to him a large circle of devoted friends. In the
service of the War Department this was especially noticeable. It was just the
character of labor in which the fellowship of men becomes strong, fraternal,
affectionate. It often challenged heroic devotion. It awoke in the sense of
danger the profoundest sentiments of sympathy, respect and love. Among his most
trusted lieutenants are some of the men who served under him in the War.
On the death of Dr. Norvin Green, President of the Western
Union Telegraph Company, in 1892, General Eckert was elected President of the
company, and he was re-elected at the annual meeting in October, 1893.
SOURCE: John B. Taltavall, Telegraphers
of To-day: Descriptive, Historical, Biographical, p. 13-4
